October 25 , 2006
Government Affairs
E-Update
Table
of Contents
Meet with Your Members of Congress on Temporary Medicare Ambulance Relief
Submit Your Ambulance Cost Survey Today
CMS Open Door Forum on Medicare Provider Enrollment
Forwarded from CMS
CMS Briefing on Medicaid Integrity Program
Forwarded from CMS
IOM Emergency Care Dissemination Workshops: Registration for Capstone Workshop in Washington, D.C. Now Open
Meet with Your Members of Congress on Temporary Medicare Ambulance Relief
Please take advantage of the congressional recess and meet before the November elections with your Members of Congress on temporary Medicare ambulance relief. Also, if you have not already done so, please write your Members of Congress on the temporary increase of 5% for 2007 and 2008. It is critical that Members of Congress hear from their ambulance service providers on the matter.
To write a letter using the AAA online letter writing tool, please go to: http://capwiz.com/the-aaa/home/ . You can also access the system through the AAA homepage at http://www.the-aaa.org/ and clicking on "Write Your Members of Congress". The system will fax the letters to your Members of Congress for you! It should only take a few minutes to complete.
Over 1,000 letters have been sent from ambulance service professionals to Members of Congress. However, if we are to raise the profile of this issue, we need every AAA member contact to send letters. Please also forward this e-mail your staff and ask that they also write letters. The more letters the better!
Submit Your Ambulance Cost Survey Today
You still have time to submit your completed ambulance cost survey. If you received a follow up phone call from Randy Strozyk, Brenda Staffan, Jerry Zapolnik or Larry Wiersch and you pledged to complete and submit a survey, please do so at your first opportunity. Quantria Strategies has received only 80 completed surveys which is well below our target. It is therefore crucial if you received a letter to complete and submit a survey today.
Quantria Strategies has sent letters to 1,000 ambulance service providers asking that they participate in an ambulance cost study. The providers were randomly selected and represent a cross section of all provider types, service area populations and regions of the country. The AAA hired Quantria Strategies to conduct the study so that the ambulance industry will have a basis by which to compare the results of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on the costs of ambulance services now expected to be released this fall.
If you receive a letter, please follow the instructions and participate in the survey. It is critical that we have a large response rate. If you receive a letter and have any questions, please contact John O'Hare of Quantria Strategies at jfo@quantria.com or Judy Xanthopoulos at jax@quantria.com .
Special Open Door Forum:
Medicare Provider Enrollment
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
2:00PM - 3:30PM, Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Conference Call Only
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will hold a Special Open Door Forum (ODF) to discuss the ways that providers and suppliers can facilitate their enrollment into the Medicare program. A Medicare enrollment application (CMS-855) is required to be completed by all health care providers/suppliers who wish to enroll in the Medicare program. CMS is responsible for ensuring that all enrolled Medicare providers/suppliers are qualified to provide appropriate health care services as required by Federal statute and regulations. To fulfill these goals, CMS must collect and verify specific information on each provider/supplier who wishes to bill the Medicare program.
CMS is holding this Special ODF specifically to bring together interested parties, including provider associations, advocacy groups, interested providers/suppliers, and the members of the general public, to provide the public an opportunity to provide input regarding the Medicare enrollment process.
To facilitate this discussion, CMS will provide: (1) an overview of the Medicare enrollment regulation published on April 21, 2006, (2) an overview of the revised Medicare enrollment applications, and (3) useful tips on how providers can facilitate their enrollment into the Medicare program. Afterwards, there will be an open discussion for staff to listen to your comments regarding the Medicare enrollment process.
We look forward to your participation.
Open Door Forum Participation Instructions:
Dial: 1-800-837-1935 & Reference Conference ID 8711246
Note: TTY Communications Relay Services are available for the Hearing Impaired.
For TTY services dial 7-1-1 or 1-800-855-2880 and for Internet Relay services click here http://www.consumer.att.com/relay/which/index.html
A Relay Communications Assistant will help.
ENCORE: 1-800-642-1687
"Encore" is a recording of this call that can be accessed by dialing 1-800-642-1687 and entering the Conf. ID # 8711246 . The recording begins 2 hours after the call ends, and will expire after 4 business days.
CMS Briefing on Medicaid Integrity Program
Forwarded from CMS
On Thursday, October 26, 2006, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm ET, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will hold a briefing to discuss the Medicaid Integrity Program.
Under the provisions of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005, Congress provided resources to CMS to establish the Medicaid Integrity Program (MIP). MIP represents the first national strategy to detect and prevent Medicaid fraud and abuse in the program's history. Under the leadership of the Center for Medicaid & State Operations (CMSO), the agency will fulfill the mandates of this new program. The Comprehensive Medicaid Integrity Plan, released July 18, 2006, will guide CMSO's efforts to fulfill this new obligation.
Please join Robb Miller, the Acting Director of the Medicaid Integrity Group on a conference call as he describes the broad responsibilities, guiding principles, and operational functions and strategies of the MIP included in the Plan.
For more information about the Comprehensive Medicaid Integrity Plan, visit:
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/DeficitReductionAct/02_CMIP.asp
Call-in information for the call is found below:
DATE: Thursday, October 26, 2006
TIME: 3:00 PM ET
DURATION: 1 Hr.
TOLL FREE #: 1-888-552-9191
PASSCODE: 8866043
IOM Emergency Care Dissemination Workshops: Registration for Capstone Workshop in Washington, D.C. Now Open
During the past two months, the Strategic and Organizational Development Committee of the AAA has been working on a plan to utilize the IOM report on Emergency Services to assist us with meeting our goals and objective in the current strategic plan. The committee reviewed the report and identified statements that were congruent with AAA positions, statements that we currently have no position on but may be supportive of and lastly, statements which are incongruent with the current position. The committee then developed a series of action steps related to the items that support our current positions.
Below are the IOM recommendations and statements that are 100% congruent with AAA positions:
• Medicare reimburses below cost
• EMS must have parity in disaster preparedness with Police and Fire
• Congress should increase funding for EMS disaster preparedness with a dedicated funding stream
• In order to reduce the negative impact of ED overcrowding their must be measurable and enforceable standards that serve to reduce patient parking, ambulance diversion and in-patient boarding in ED's
• Communications interoperability needs to include data as well as voice communications and serve to integrate EMS , public safety, hospitals, public health and emergency management
• EMS systems must be accountable which corresponds to the central theme of the AAA publication Community Guide to Ensuring High-Performance Emergency Ambulance Service and the 5 Hallmarks
• Financial incentives need to be aligned for field pronouncements for resuscitation patients-pay ALS 2 for full ACLS work-ups without transport
Action Steps include the following:
• Use supportive quotes from IOM reports in AAA written materials and talking points
• Ensure AAA get a representative on any of the panels, commissions and advisory groups that get established as a result of the recommendations, i.e.:
• HHS/NHTSA-OEMS panel on developing evidence based categorization system for EMS , ED's, and trauma centers
• NHTSA-OEMS panel on developing evidence-based model pre-hospital care protocols for the treatment, triage, and transport of patients
• HHS panel to develop evidence-based indicators of emergency care system performance
• CMS workgroup to look reimbursement for readiness costs and treat without transport
• CMS working group to develop boarding and diversion standards as well as guidelines, measures, and incentives for implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of these standards
. Inform and provide education for members to participate and initiate grant requests as those opportunities become available originating from IOM initiatives
Lastly, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) will hold its final Future of Emergency Care Series workshop in Washington , D.C. on Monday, December 11th . The workshop will be held at The National Academies Building from 9 AM to 5 PM and will provide an opportunity to engage federal policy leaders in a discussion of emergency care issues. Registration is now open! Volunteer leaders and staff will be attending the remaining workshops; but we encourage AAA members to attend these meetings.
The workshop is free of charge but registration is required. Online registration and the preliminary meeting agenda can be accessed on our web site at www.iom.edu/emergencycare/workshops . An informational flyer is attached here - please feel free to pass this on to your colleagues.
We thank you for your continued interest and support and look forward to seeing you in Washington , D.C.
Note: Registration is still open for the November 2nd workshop in New Orleans . Visit the website for more information.
Institute of Medicine
500 5th Street, N.W., WS 720
Washington, D.C. 20001
Phone: (202) 334-3413
Fax: (202) 334-2862
emergencycare@nas.edu
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